Chapter 12: Prudent Inquiry: Conceptual Complexity versus Practical Simplicity in Knowing What Works

Reyna (this issue) has provided us with a useful service, summarizing clearly and cogently much of the history and the substance of the No Child Left Behind Act, and its many effects on the practice of both education and educational research. I find little to quarrel with in her excellent paper. Instead, I would like to complement her discussion of the evidence-based practice movement, based on my experience as a member of the What Works Clearinghouse Technical Advisory Group in particular, and on my more general experience as a scholar in the areas of meta-analysis, exper-imental design, and program evaluation.